Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

In the late 1990s my son, Matthew, and I became aware of a dispute
over one of Lake Tahoe’s best-known landmarks: Cave Rock. The
clash between Washoe Indians, who held the property sacred, and rock
climbers, who used its world-class climbing routes, simmered and periodically
boiled until it was resolved by the federal court system in 2007...

Introduction

Suddenly it was over. After twenty years filled with bitter disputes, regulatory
schizophrenia, and litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit had resolved the issue of Cave Rock. On August 27,
2007, the court upheld the U.S. district court’s ruling, and rock climbing
at the sacred monolith ended. In an unlikely outcome, the Washoe Indians,...

Chapter One: The Center

Native land bases have steadily disappeared since the first European
colonists set foot in the Americas. Armed with an ethos that
held Native people to be “savage” or at best “uncivilized,” newcomers
felt no compunction in appropriating their lands. By the time Euro-
Americans arrived in Washoe country in the mid-1800s, a well-oiled colonial...

Chapter Two: The Tunnels

The two highway tunnels that penetrate the granite below the main,
or upper, cave at Cave Rock played an important part in the dispute
regarding climbing and Washoe spirituality at the site. Early in the
controversy, portions of the area were closed to climbing because of the
danger of rockfall onto the roadway below. While accepting that limited
closure...

Chapter Three: Real Powers

In Carson City, Nevada, on a hot summer day in the 1880s, Dr. Simeon
Lee treated an elderly Washoe man who had fallen face-down in a
dusty street. Lee ruled the collapse a result of heat exhaustion. On his
follow-up visit the next day, Lee found the man sitting between two
women who were chanting rhythmically. Also in attendance was a boy...

Chapter Four: The Innovator

The fame and influence of Henry Rupert, the shaman most often publicly
associated with Cave Rock, cross cultural boundaries. He is the
only Washoe doctor to be the subject of a published ethnology. The resonance
of his healing abilities became a primary consideration when the
Forest Service was making a final determination at Cave Rock.1
When Rupert was a young...

Chapter Five: Slayer

The brief history of rock climbing at Cave Rock is replete with accomplishments
featuring the development of challenging and spectacular
routes. Even before the Washoe sacred site issue came to the fore,
the site’s enthusiasts faced a problem that confronts all modern climbers:
they value new climbs and first ascents, but each achievement reduces...

[Image Plates]

Chapter Six: Hunter-Gatherers and Courts

The Washoes had very little reason to hope for a favorable outcome
if their attempt to halt climbing at Cave Rock was taken into the
court system. Prior to the last decade of the twentieth century, no Native
American sacred site claim had ever been upheld in a federal court. While
Christian sites such as Catholic missions and the National Cathedral in...

Chapter Seven: Common or Uncommon Ground

In the late 1990s the Access Fund found itself in what its leaders saw
as a no-win situation. In the fund’s 1997 online newsletter, Senior
Policy Analyst Sam Davidson expressed concern that the rising incidence
of conflicts between Indians and climbers at Cave Rock was damaging
climbers’ standing in the eyes of the public. He portrayed the climbers...

Chapter Eight: Adverse Effects

When the participants were told they could leave at the conclusion
of the last collaborative meeting, Cave Rock project manager Lisa
O’Daly joked: “No! Lock the door. Make them talk.” She had mentioned
in the course of the meeting her hope that participants would come
up with “a great solution” that would satisfy both the climbers and the...

Chapter Nine: Reactions

Juan Palma’s decision and the release of the DEIS brought immediate
responses; five letters arrived within the first two weeks. Three of
the writers, one from the western slope of the Sierra and two from California’s
Central Valley, supported climbing. Their only objection to the
proposal concerned the removal of the paved floor; all three suggested it...

Chapter Ten: Record of Decision

Maribeth Gustafson, a nineteen-year career Forest Service employee,
became supervisor of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
in July 2000. She came to Tahoe after serving as the assistant director
for fire and aviation management in the Pacific Southwest Region. After
graduating from San Diego State in 1980, she had served as a resource...

Chapter Eleven: New Directions

The Forest Service would not begin implementing the new management
direction until forty-five days plus five working days after the
decision was published in the local newspaper. Implementation would
be postponed if the decision came under administrative appeal during
that period. Two appeals were filed within that time frame—one by the...

Chapter Twelve: Connections

The steep trail up to Cave Rock levels out at a switchback and leads
either into the cave or across the cave apron to a small stone patio
overlooking the vast expanse of Lake Tahoe. A mid-February 2009
visit revealed that the graffiti, the paved floor, and the anchors in the
rock remained. Several names and dates, timeworn but obtrusive, were...

Afterword

The Cave Rock DEIS, published in 1999, suggested that the Forest Service
might not be able to find anyone willing to remove the metal
anchors from the rock face because it would require specialized skills
found exclusively in the climbing community. The section summarizing
social effects said: “Members of that community may be reluctant to be...

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